28 July 2011

NFABD visit AFC house

Kuala Lumpur: Brunei’s HRH Prince Sufri Bolkiah led a delegation from the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) in their first visit to AFC House here on Thursday.

HRH Prince Bolkiah, the Honorary President of NFABD, led the delegation which consisted of NFABD President Dato’ Paduka Abd Rahman Mohiddin, NFABD General Secretary Mohd Noor Abdullah and Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council Zuraimi Abdul Sani.

AFC Acting President Zhang Jilong and AFC General Secretary Alex Soosay received the delegation.

In an interview with the-afc.com, HRH Prince Bolkiah has said Bruneians and NFABD are happy to continue with their football journey following their reinstatement after the former association, Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (BAFA), was suspended by FIFA in 2009.

He said: “We are very happy and excited. We look forward to participating in as many football competitions as possible in the region or other parts of the world. We are also in the process of starting the national league.

“We have sent more than 100 forms to football clubs across the country and we are giving them a tentative deadline of this October. Half of the clubs have responded and I think the response is very encouraging.

“We would like to thank the AFC, the focal point and centre of expertise in football in the continent, for its help and support to us.”

The FIFA Executive Committee on May 31 lifted the suspension of the Sultanate's association after ascertaining that the national association had fulfilled the conditions established by the FIFA Emergency Committee and approved its statutes in line with the FIFA Statutes.

FIFA suspended BAFA at the Executive Committee meeting in Rio, Brazil in September 2009 due to government interference in its affairs, which started with a decision by the Brunei authorities to dissolve BAFA and to replace it with a new association.